Professor Ian Phillips to Speak at Two National Conferences

February 27, 2012

Ian Phillips

Dr. Ian Phillips, Norris Professor of Life Sciences and Director of the Center for Rare Disease Therapies, is set to speak at two upcoming conferences this March: the Rare Disease Leader's Forum, in San Francisco and the Stem Cells for Drug Developers conference in Boston. Phillips will participate as a featured speaker, workshop leader and panel guest covering an array of topics from gene therapy to the roll of academia in the rare disease pipeline. He commented that "KGI, through the Center for Rare Disease Therapies, has become recognized nationally as a unique academic unit that teaches and studies future therapies for rare diseases."

The Rare Disease Leaders' forum in San Francisco, CA will take place March 12-14. The conference is designed to enable key industry executives to make better decisions around their orphan and rare disease strategy. Dr. Phillips will talk in multiple sessions. He will present his recent study on gene and stem therapies for rare disease and cancers. He will discuss the best approach for academia and industry to partner for rare diseases and how to statistically handle small sample trial data.

The Stem Cells for Drug Developers conference will take place March 27th-29th in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference is for company executives seeking to find new and future drugs from stem cells. Phillips has been invited to l lead a workshop entitled "Understanding the Role of Stem Cell Factors and Functions to Aid Drug Discovery Efforts." The seminar will look specifically at how stem cell growth factors and microRNA may lead to new drug discovery or enhance drug testing.